Karaoke Forums

How about when the cops show up and shut ya down.  Geez, it was only 9:30pm at an outdoor private party (wedding reception).  They claimed they had several complaints about the music being too loud.  But, wait, most of the neighbors are here...  Well, you still gotta shut it down, or turn it down enough that it cant be heard outside of the yard...  What a party stopper.....

Of course, the cops werent sure what to think when they walked up- it was a Scottish wedding, and the groom, the whole wedding party, and many other men guests were all wearing kilts.  

Should have heard the bagpiper they had for the wedding, and again for the serving of the haggis.

Surely it had nothing to do with several folks that had been drinking since 10am (they showed up with their sporran flasks full, with lots of refills).  Surely it had nothing to do with them seeing the empty wine and scotch bottles (cases), and a couple of empty kegs, and more still hooked up and flowing....

Maybe it had something to do with someone requesting 'My Ding A Ling'?

(I dont think it had anything to do with someone requesting 'The Rodeo Song', and the groom and his friends belting it out....)


Anyone else?

Cop's Suck Like That

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I've had 1 outdoor show shut down, by the time the cops hit, it was nearly 3:00 AM.  The place was pretty secluded, no one around for miles & the contractee kept paying an extra $75 per hour to go over.  Once they came, we shut it down.

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Drag, Could have been a really great paying night if it kept going.

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ROBDOG *WOOF WOOF*

Oh it was a lucrative evening I must say since I started at 6:00 PM!  Base pay was $600 from 6-11 with the first hour just being background music for the BBQ.  He paid $300 extra from 11-3.

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I had this problem at an outdoor private party. At the time, I just shut it down because I didn't know the law, but once I got home and researched it, I found that the following statute in my county, which is probably similar for most counties:

You are allowed to play music ON PRIVATE PROPERTY up to 72 decibles AS MEASURED FROM THE PROPERTY LINE CLOSEST TO THE SOURCE between the hours of 7am-11p.m.. Between the hours of 11p.m. and 7a.m., you may play music up to 55 decibles AS MEASURED FROM THE PROPERTY LINE CLOSEST TO THE SOURCE.

In the case of a multifamily dwelling, you may never exceed 40 decibles AS MEASURED FROM THE NEAREST NEIGHBOR ON THE PROPERTY.

Now, 72 decibles isn't that loud (on par with the standard playing volume of a piano), but it is certainly better than nothing (the chart I read states that a live rock concert is usually set at about 110 dbs). 55 decibles is about a person's standard speaking volume. Next time I do an outdoor show, I am certainly grabbing a decible reader from rat shack for $29.99 to take with me. Likewise, I'm sure if you kept your volume CLOSE to 72 dbs in this situation, you could win in court if the police didn't take a reading.

Point being, just having a complaint doesn't give the police the right to shut you down, there are acceptable noise levels!!

The catch is that none of that applies to public property, so watch where you are playing!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

In my little town...... the cops would most likely join in.  LMAO

That's one of the big benefits of living out of town, I'm outside the "disturbing the peace" zone. It's a good thing too.  LOL

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

The first thang ya gotta do is ALWAYS invite a cop.

...I betting the neighbor that complained felt snubbed cause he/she wasn't invited or was too uptight to go.

Wedding parties are a dime a dozen...I'm planning a huge DIVORCE party....YEHAW!

Everyone is invited(except the ex) ......I live out in the country, so we can play music as loud and as long as we want...All are invited to use the dance pole, but you must hang your panties from the ceiling(thumbtacks will be provided).

There will be a cop there, but he is really cool.  :dancin:  :worship:

Got shout down about 1 moth ago by the cops.  It was the first realy war day of the year, and all the freekies came outta the woodwork to the bar I was doing a gig at.

THe first fight broke out about 8pm, 1 hour before I start.  Cops came, broke it up

Another fight about 11pm.  Cops came, broke it up, and arrested 2 people for warrants.

Midnight hit, and 1/2 the bar was in a fight.  Spilled out into the street.  Cops came arested about 5 people for public intox, and closed the bar.

As for a private party, it was the wifes birthday party in the back yard.  About 1 am the cops cam and said we had to shut off the music/karaoke.

Don't be blaming the cops, they have to respond.  But if you invite all the neighbours, the chances of complaints lessen.  Also remember sound carries farther at night (due to it being quieter as the daytime noises aren't there.  Don't believe me, go out at noon in your area, then at about 1am).  Other factors are if there are children trying to sleep andof course the idiot who doesn't want anyone to have fun.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

You'll soon be across the street from tons of apartment people.  Are you sure the noise ordinance doesn't apply out that far?  I don't know for sure myself.

Nope, we're still outside the urban growth boundary, still using well water instead of city, all that good stuff.

And those are all homes, on large lots, not any apartments going over there. (thank GOD!!)

Until I move anyhow..... this place will do. I already am having misgivings about it. I dont' want neighbors across the road.  :(

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Wow, you're on well water out there?  That's not that far out.    I had know idea.
Ya learn something everyday.  I'm going to have to refresh my memory about where the city limits are exactly.

They only came by towards the end after realizing our music was too loud to hear them calling.. They knew us, knew our neighbors, and usually got tired of stopping by, they'd just send someone who'd say ""Officer Nelson wants you guys to turn it down again, he doesn't want to have to tell you one or two more times either tonight".. Getting shut down in the 60's and early 70's by the cops wasn't a rare event, usually they asked us to turn it down since people had to get up for work the next day, and we were shaking windows.... It happened several times an evening back during outdoor and even indoor 60's and 70's bandpractices, performances.... The "Turn it down" line in Zappa's "Joes Garage" was NO exagerration. We were nothing comapared to "White Chocolate" however, when they were practicing down the street, I couldn't play a record without the thing skipping all over from the bass vibration, and that was when they were over 1/4 mile away... We couldn't compete with Charlie Karp, or David Hull... They had the HUGE equipment. like twin SVT cabs, 4 Marshall 4x12 cabs and slaved 2oo watt heads...Altec VOTT stack PA...  Some of you that weren't around prior to DB awareness, Tinitis concerns, enforced breach of peace laws, and health awareness, can't realize how many of us stood in front of stacks, and  slaved Twin Reverbs turned up to 7 and 8, Marshall twin stacks 100 Watt heads of TUBE loudness turned up to 6-7 and our shirts and bell bottoms would blow all over, as would our hair from the air pushed by the volume of sound pouring from the speakers..Sound checks matches would go out when placed in front of bass cabs. Parents were usually on vacation when we'd alternate locations of band practices   .. When they returned they'd be pretty miff'd. Dishes would fall off've shelves, vases would vibrate off've mantle pieces... and alot of stuff would get knocked over by sound vibration... Pictures would never stay aligned on walls....yet loud was what you did in those days...
What scared me, and I mentioned this, is that certain configurations, such as the Gibson EBO bass thru folded horn cabs, or 18 even 15 inch configuration speaker cabs would literally knock the breath out've you...the loudness knocked you in the chest and gut.....as did the frequency, sort've like fireworks frequency and volume...It was really loud, really low, and the vibration DID seem as tho it could be physically harmful to the heart chest or lungs...If you'll recall the 60's creme days. Bass was felt, not really heard.... Jack Bruce lines were extremely low frequency and bass was almost a rhythm instrument that was so bottomy with the Humbucking bass pickup that it wasn't clearly heard live note for note on the E and A string.... It had punch, more-so than melodic content...it rattled windows...but it wasn't until a few years later in the 1960's that the revised telecaster and Precision bass models that used the split pickup, and later the Fender Jazz Bass and Rick 4001 basses were more melodically heard with MUCH more treble, and mid-range heard..initially it was hard to tune a mid-60's bass electric for that  very reason, it was muddy boomy bottom, not tonally discernible......the Hofner Beatles Bass, Gibson EBO, EB1, and even EB2, EB3 lines of bass guitars were pure bottom boom.... and vibration. Initial bass pickups were designed that way..

We did go home at the end of a night feeling like water was in our ears, constant ringing... or there was just a film over the eardrums...we literally couldn't hear for hours afterwards, yet the alcohol we consumed made the process of temporary nerve deafness possible, and for that we were thankful....we had total nerve deafness for awhile, yet those little hairs always seemed to end up standing back up, too bad the braincells weren't as tough !.... Well one ear wasn't quite so tough..yet anyway...

The cops asking us to turn it down was CONSTANT...yet ironically after they got off duty, a few of the cops would come by, and grab a few beers from the keg, and have a blast... The 60's and 70's around the beginning of the British invasion period was the "Can you folks turn that way down please" era !   We weren't health conscious, we didn't consider we'd go deaf... a few of us really didn't for some bizarre reason.... and I miss those days VERY much.... You could hear bands practicing over 2 miles away.... INDOORS..I kid you not !

(usually just the bass until we got close range, about 3/4 of a mile away... at this point we could hear some guitar, and amp'd bass drum parts


It was ALWAYS loud if it was rock in the 60's and 70's. Lest it wasn't "rock".



In the North Eastern suburban-rural areas there was no such law when I was a youngster...It was almost ALWAYS over 120 DB after midnight !  Heck,  it wasn't "cool" otherwise .. In school gym dances if there were no windows, we'd never have a clue if there was a thunder storm outside until we'd leave the gym.. You couldn't feel or hear thunder, the band was too loud   LMAO.. Scary thing about that 55 DB law, is if there is such a law here, I'll probably get arrested for snoring..

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I've had the cops show up several times, but they never have shut me down yet.
Playing outside they have asked me to lower the music, but that is it. I'd bring the
music down for about an hour and then hike it back up after that. I don't hink the cops want to be party poopers. They are just doing their job. They come out because someone complained. After they feel like they've done their job, they leave.

I'd probably be ticked if they shut me down. But there isn't much you can do about that.

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I did a party for friends and the cops showed around 5 in the afternoon. The property owner said we would turn it down and we did. About a half an hour later they showed again. Once again the guy who owned the property said we would turn down some more. When they showed the third time we turned it back up while we they were there and the owner told the cops to tell whatever neighbor was complaining that there was nothing they could do til 11 and not to come back until 11:01. Cops left and didn't come back and we were crankin more than the first time.

Look up the term breach of peace - you will find a different story.  your 55 decibels are fine until they interfere with others.  Under breach of peace even though what you are doing is legal, the office is required to tell you that your actions are disturbing the peace.  After that, you're in violation.   Case in point, if I turn my p115s up to the max city decibel level there is not problem unless my neighbors complain that they have to sleep during the day and that my bass is vibrating their walls or that they can't listen to their own radio due to my music.

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Singing just for you

Noise level is usually determined by municipal by-laws and each area is different as to times and levels.  You should check your local laws and be aware of them.  For example what maybe okay in New York may not be okay in L.A. and vice versa.

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